Are there any cursive writing styles designed for ease of use and legibility?

Way back in the Dark Ages when I went to school, we were taught to write cursively. I regularly flunked penmanship. I understand that handwriting is no longer taught. The style we were taught involved keeping the pen on the paper until a word was complete and then cross t’s and dot i’s. It seems that it would be easier to lift the pen after simply printing some letters, like p. Might the easiest, most fluid and most legible way of writing be a cross between printing and cursive? I vaguely recall someone once suggesting this.